Wild Wild Country , a new docu-series produced by the prolific Duplass Brothers, begins with real-life footage of hundreds of men and women, clothed in complete red, making their way into the small town of Antelope in the state of Oregon, America, in 1981. These intriguing visuals are interspersed with interviews of old-time residents of Antelope, recounting the shock and horror they experienced seeing their little hamlet of only 40 residents being taken over by a commune consisting of followers of Bhagwan Rajneesh, more popularly known as ‘Osho’.
Directors Maclain and Chapman Way set the tone for their six-part series with a riveting introduction about regular folk whose lives were dismantled, and then quickly shifts focus to ageing members of the commune, now settled in different parts of the world (Europe, America, Australia). The Way brothers have some brilliant, never-seen-before footage at their disposal, which they expertly mesh with aesthetically-shot interviews and a roaring background score. As in life, there are two diametrically different versions of events — if not multiple — guiding the narrative here, and both are presented with equal care and sensitivity. There’s enough drama and mystery packed in Part 1 to get you hooked to the premise, and by the end of Part 2, you aren’t quite certain, yet, where your sympathies lie.
Wild Wild Country
A feature of all great multi-part documentary series — as opposed to documentary features — is that the bigger picture evolves over the course of the show. Making a murderer , about the incarceration of Steve Avery and Brendan Dassey, had a similar quality, stunning viewers with newer developments every few episodes. The Jinx , about serial killer Robert Durst, and Made in America , about the life of OJ Simpson, took a slow-burn approach too. Wild Wild Country excels in taking viewers on a similar rollercoaster ride, reeling you in with little bits of information before pulling the rug out from under your feet, then setting you up for the next twist.
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There’s the obvious India connect, but the most fascinating element of the story is the influence Rajneesh had over his Western disciples, making America a natural choice for him to conduct his ‘business’ from. His advocation of free love and irreverent views on sex and matrimony coincided with the counter-culture wave of that time, helping spread his reach.
Wild Wild Country isn’t just about the formation, domination and eventual disintegration of a cult; instead, it is a study of the influence of power, the anatomy of religion, and how society responds to an idea — any idea — it isn’t comfortable with. The Way brothers achieve this largely by keeping the focus away from Rajneesh himself, instead throwing the spotlight on his followers, mainly Sheela Silverman (commune name: Ma Anand Sheela) — the ‘right-hand man’ in his organisation. Through the course of the series, we see Sheela transform from an avid, starry-eyed disciple to a confident, ruthless leader in her own right, and her journey anchors the show.
Wild Wild Country
Rajneesh himself remains an elusive figure — quite possibly a calculated move to sustain the mystique. Just like a god.
Wild Wild Country is now streaming on Netflix
